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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764949">Not the Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus'>Draco_sollicitus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Damerey Valentines 2020, DamereyDaily2020, Duel of the Fates Compliant, End of War, F/M, Ficlet, Happy Ending, Love, Post Duel of the Fates, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 12:21:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>During the war, they hadn't had the time.</p><p><i>"Not the time,"</i> Rey told him more than once.</p><p>With the war, Poe figured he'd have to wait. And with the Jedi code, Poe understood he might have to wait forever. Even with Rey gone, Poe didn't give up hope -</p><p>Hope that one day, they would have the time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Poe Dameron/Rey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>130</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Not the Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Compliant as much as possible with the Duel of the Fates script EXCEPT</p><p>Rey didn't Force-mind-trick Poe into leaving her after kissing him BECAUSE that would be so invasive and awful esp. after they were both tortured by Kylo Ren. </p><p> </p><p>Spoilers for the Duel of the Fates script, I guess?</p><p>Partially inspired by the DamereyDaily2020 prompt: "I know a life without love is no life at all"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em> Not the time, </em>she said as they swept through the end of the war, desperately trying to stay alive.</p><p><em> Not the time, </em>as they ducked under blaster-fire.</p><p><em> Not the time, </em>she whispered regretfully, pulling his hood over his head, her scarf back into place, the MechaTroopers still visible around the corner.</p><p>Poe told himself he didn’t mind. He told himself he could wait.</p><p>Even when everyone else in the galaxy - Leia and Finn excluded - believed she was dead, Poe knew better, and he waited. </p><p>And waited.</p><p>He was getting good at waiting - it was the worst lesson the war had taught him. The most important. </p><p>When the beacon lit up to guide him, all he could think about was her - her eyes, her laugh, her sharp wit, her inner strength. Then he flew right to her, and it felt more like coming home than the path to Yavin 4 ever did. </p><p>Rey was waiting for him, scarred and exhausted even after the year she’d spent elsewhere; wherever she’d gone, whoever she was with, Poe knew as curious as he was, he’d wait for her to tell him all that, too.</p><p>Because she was <em> here </em> and <em> safe </em> and <em> alive.  </em></p><p>He could wait forever if he had to.</p><p>She was quiet, curled up on the seat behind him as Chewbacca warbled nervously to her. Rey shook her head and smiled, a ragged, broken limp of a smile that fell when Poe met her eyes.</p>
<hr/><p>Finn hugged her tightly while Rose cried; when Leia stroked her hands through her hair and absolved her of Ben’s death, Rey started to sob so horribly that Poe ushered Finn and the rest of them away to give them privacy.</p><p>She found him later, in the space between the trees. The stars shone overhead, and Poe swore he could hear them singing the way he could hear them singing when he was a little boy in the Force tree back home. He hadn’t heard them sing in years, but now, with Rey alive and so close-by, his faith awarded at long last, Poe heard every note of their symphony and felt his own soul rising to meet it. </p><p>He heard the footsteps over the song of the galaxy; Poe didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.</p><p>“Hey, flyboy.”</p><p>“Hey, Sunshine.” </p><p>Rey settled on the fallen tree trunk next to him. She didn’t smile, but he felt warmth like every sun above them was spilling over into him.</p><p>It was quiet then, like the constellations were quieting just for them. Poe fiddled with the ring around his neck, not nervous at all, but patient. Waiting. </p><p>And then:</p><p>“Is it too late?” </p><p>“Is what too late?” Poe turned to her.</p><p>She was wearing the dark tunic and pants she’d been wearing when she left him (when she made him go back to the Resistance, something he’d fought with her over in his head so many times he didn’t feel the need to fight anymore), and her hair was down, barely clipped back from her lovely face. </p><p>Gone was the fullness that had been there when they met nearly three years ago; she was leaner somehow, and not just from tiredness. Poe felt a sadness crack along the faultlines of his heart when he saw how much the war had hurt her; but right now, all he could wonder was what she meant by her question. </p><p>It took her a few minutes to clarify. But he could wait.</p><p>“Is it too late … for us?” Rey blushed and turned her gaze to the carpet of pine needles beneath their feet. Poe’s heart skipped a beat, then another. </p><p>“I thought you were worried about the code-”</p><p>“Before I died-” he winced at her choice of words, and she didn’t, “-I decided that I wouldn’t reject attachment.”</p><p>Poe nodded slowly, his brain still scrambling to catch up to her first question; Rey looked up at last and fixed him with a gaze heavy enough to pin him down, more than gravity ever could.</p><p>“I decided I wouldn’t reject my love.”</p><p>“You-” Poe blinked, disbelieving. “You love me?”</p><p>“I do.” Rey smiled as though those weren’t the most important words in the galaxy, as though she didn’t know their worth.</p><p>But, given the grief and pain and sorrow in her eyes, maybe she knew their worth, their cost, more than he did.</p><p>“And …. And now I’m worried it’s too late for us. That I missed our time.”</p><p>A heartbeat, then another. An infinite stretch of the universe passed between them, the path home still clear and bright in his eyes as he studied her face. </p><p>Poe lifted his hand to cover Rey’s carefully where it rested on the bark. </p><p>“You didn’t,” Poe whispered, and Rey’s lip trembled as a tear carved down her cheek, a tear to match the ones in his own eyes. “You didn’t miss it, Rey.”</p><p>“I didn’t?” She laughed through her tremulous question, and Poe gripped her hand in both of his, held it between them tenderly.</p><p>“Force, Rey.” Poe kissed each of her knuckles carefully as she started to hiccup and cry in earnest. “Don’t you know? It’ll always be our time.”</p><p>“Please don’t say that if you don’t mean it.” Rey shook her head, her body curled inward as though expecting a harsh word, a trick, and Poe’s heart splintered so that it could swell.</p><p>“I mean it,” Poe insisted, cupping her cheek with one trembling hand. “It’ll always be our time, Sunshine. No more war. No more death. It’s our time now.”</p><p>The stars’ song built up around them once more as Poe leaned in to kiss her, not to hide from the enemy, not to say goodbye, but to kiss her to show her how much he loved her, and how much he meant his words.</p><p>Rey kissed him back, her cheeks wet with tears that he brushed away patiently, both of them eventually laughing sweetly into the kiss.</p><p>They finally had time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>THANK YOU FOR READING</p><p> </p><p>(Happy Valentine's Day)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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